Trijicon RMR - Review of the TSD Glock

I've always been interested in trying out the latest trend in handgun optics, the Trijicon RMR, and thanks to Jon Payne from Suarez International I got a chance to try one out on his TSD RMR Glock.

For those not familiar with the Trijicon RMR, it's a small "red dot" optic for your handgun, and/or other applications that require compactness and lightweight solutions. The dual illuminated model does not require batteries to operate since it relies upon Trijicon's fiber optic lighting source for daytime and a tritium source for night time; a feature I find absolutely necessary in regards to optics on defensive handguns. It's available in a 4 MOA to 8 MOA dot, the latter being superior for handguns. The model I tested was a 8 MOA dot, which I found to be fast in acquisition and sufficient for repeatable and accurate shot placement.

For more options, here's Trijicon's website for the RMR:

The higher end TSD RMR package includes the Trijicon RMR milled into a Lone Wolf Gen III slide and has optional suppressor sights. They use suppressor sights since they are sufficiently tall enough to clear the base of the RMR, and are an invaluable back-up option. The Lone Wolf slide gives additional benefits in that you gain front cocking serrations and the beveled "nose", which really helps re-holstering, especially for those of you that use leather, or hybrid, holsters that are prone to collapse. Additional options include refinishing in flat black, tan, or green, Lone Wolf recoil guide / spring assembly, and a Lone Wolf barrel in two flavors, threaded and standard. All in all it's a pretty comprehensive package for those of you looking to get into the RMR'd handguns.

The sight picture is pretty quick to pick up, and it has one distinct advantage over iron sights, it allows you to focus on shot placement on the target and maintain visual awareness of your target. When you pick up the front sight with a traditional sight picture you are going to get a blurry target. If that target happens to be moving, you have to move with it. Add in some hard cover and the target gets smaller, and at distance the likelihood of missed shots increases greatly. That's where the RMR really shines, it allows you to simply place a dot where you want the bullet to go, pull the trigger and get results. Rather than having to focus on finite sight alignment for a long shot, you now get T-box accuracy by just putting the dot where you want it. In competition, IPSC and USPSA steel shooters have known the advantage of using red dot optics for years in getting fast acquisition, while bullseye shooters have been using them to gain an advantage in 10-ring accuracy, and having used many different setups I can tell you that it really does speed you up and increase accuracy at range.

"But what about carry options? Surely it's hard to carry something with that big ol' sight on there!"

It really isn't ... as illustrated below by Jon Payne of Suarez International using a Seraphim appendix carry AIWB holster.

For those of you wanting to find a solution to running suppressed, this is by far the best one out there. Even with "suppressor" sights some cans run a bit wide and can still obscure the shot placement. The RMR is tall enough and can be mounted even taller to clear any suppressor and gives the benefit of perfect windage where you otherwise could not make out the windows. I ran the above gun using my AAC TiRant and thought it was a complete solution, especially with the threaded barrel option.